Chapter Eight: A Bicycle Built for Two

"Eddie Connolly: I am talking! The Doctor: AND I'M NOT LISTENING!" ~Eddie Connolly and the Doctor (10), The Idiots Lantern

            “What?” The Doctor asked, slightly concerned. “What’s wrong?”

            “The battery must be shot,” Rebecca replied, sighing. She attempted to turn the key one more time, and still nothing happened. “The car won’t start. The car’s an old thing, but it’s never given us trouble before…”

            “So I guess we’re going on foot then?” The Doctor said, not quite as disappointed as Rebecca was. In fact, it was almost as if he was glad that they weren’t using a car.

            But Rebecca wouldn’t give up. “Not yet we’re not. It’s probably only a small problem, something that we can easily fix. I’ll go check the trunk.” With that she opened the door to the car and got out. Knowing that she probably didn’t know much about cars, the Doctor did the same. She made her way to the back of the car and popped open the truck. Black smoke filled her lungs and she couldn’t help but let out a cough. Apparently Time Lords didn’t have a special immunity to smoke because the Doctor was coughing as well.

            Even waving the smoke away from their face, it was a minute before either of them could stop coughing long enough to talk. “I guess we’re walking,” Rebecca admitted grudgingly when she could finally speak. “I wonder what happened to the car… nothing like this has ever happened before.”

            “Perhaps our robot friends go to your car while we were in the TARDIS,” the Doctor said. “Maybe they didn’t want you to be able to run away if you got out of their grasp.”

            Rebecca looked at him directly in the eyes, as if she was looking to see if he was being sincere. “You really think that this was done intentionally?”

            “I think that it is a possibility,” The Doctor corrected himself. “You know how reliable Earth technology is; it can be working perfectly fine one minute and then malfunction the next.”

            “Oh, so alien technology always malfunctions whenever a human touches, right?” Rebecca replied slyly.

            The Doctor didn’t even reward that remark with a response. “Anyway, we should probably get going now. We don’t want the robots to get out of Cardiff if they haven’t already.”

            With that they broke off running out of the ally-way, ready to face anything. But then Rebecca stopped suddenly, eyeing something casually discarded on the ground. “Doctor, I have an idea.”

            “Oh no we’re not,” The Doctor replied instantly. “Absolutely not.”

            “Come on, Doctor! Please?” Rebecca insisted, looking at him with classic puppy dog eyes. “It’ll be faster than walking.”

            “But they’re hardly enough room for one of us, much less both of us!” The Doctor said.

            “We’ll make it work,” Rebecca brushed off his concerned with the wave of her hand. “Come on, you know you want to.”

            With that the Doctor gave in with a sigh. “Fine.”

*  *  *

            Okay, so it wasn’t a bicycle built for two. But they still made it work by having the Doctor pedal and Rebecca ride on the handlebars. There was an immediate problem with the situation “I can’t see!” The Doctor exclaimed after pedalling for a few seconds. “You’re going to have to tell me what direction to go.”

            “Oh, o-okay. You need to turn left.” Rebecca said a bit shakily.

            “When?” The Doctor replied.

            “Now! Turn left NOW!”

            The Doctor turned left, narrowly avoiding a lamppost. “You’re going to have to be a little quicker with those directions.”

            “Well I’m sorry that I’ve never done this-- right!”

            “What?”

            “Turn right! I said turn RIGHT!”

            That was how they spent their first ‘date’, so to speak; Rebecca shouting instructions to the Doctor and the Doctor carrying them out, if just barely. Even though the situation was a little bit stressful, Rebecca was actually enjoying herself quite a bit. . She was about to say so too, but interrupting her were high pitched screams of little girls, and the Doctor set off faster than ever in that direction.

            When they arrived, instead of seeing little girls they saw a gang of boys about 17, screaming like little girls. If the situation was different, Rebecca would have laughed at their behaviour, but instead tried to focus her power on the lizard people. The Doctor glanced at her, and when she gave a quick nod he pressed a button and with a buzz, the lizards shrank back into robots. The boys tried to thank them, but before the boys recovered from the weirdness of it, Rebecca and the Doctor had vanished, following the sound of screams farther away.

            As they travelled the streets, Rebecca couldn’t help but worry that there were human robots that they she was missing, wreaking havoc on the city and it was her fault for not seeing them. But there was nothing she could do about that; all she could do was help the Doctor as best as she could. And so far there were no robots out there other than the lizards, which were easily deactivated with the help of the sonic screwdriver.

            All and all, things everything was going rather smoothly. It made The Doctor wonder if the universe had finally taken pity on him, or if something was going to go horribly wrong later, despite his efforts to prevent that. He didn’t want to tell Rebecca that plans tend to not go as planned, for the same reasons that many humans keep secrets from each other. It made him wonder somewhat if being around humans for so long had rubbed off of him. With a shake of his head the thoughts banished from his mind, a trick that he had learned long ago.

            Almost as if the Doctor planned it himself, trouble was just around the corner. Literally, around the corner of Pauper Street there were more lizard people rough housing a family of five, two parents and three children. The Doctor could just barely make out what a frightened husband was saying over the wails of the newborn in the mother’s arms.

             “I d-don’t know wh-what you’re talking a-about.” He stuttered. “We d-didn’t send any r-robots down do attack y-you guys. At l-least, not that I k-know of. P-please don’t hurt u-us. We didn’t d-do a-anything to h-hurt you guys. W-we’ll do anything you ask. J-just l-let us g-go.” It would have been quite an impressive speech, if he wasn’t stuttering the whole time. But the lizard person, apparently the leader of the little squad, just snarled mercilessly. All four of the human family, even the newborn, shuddered as they were all blasted into smithereens. The leader barked some commands in a raspy voice and they set off, her in the lead. Rebecca and the Doctor watched the scene with helpless horror, having come far too late to be able to do anything. Suddenly an odd look came across Rebecca’s face, and she concentrated more. “Doctor?” She whispered to him, not wanting to be heard by the lizards.

            “Not now, Rebecca,” The Doctor replied, his eyes fierce. His whole demeanour had changed, and he was no longer recognizable to Rebecca. “It ends now. I refuse to let any more innocent lives being ended by someone’s twisted idea of a joke.” Without giving a chance for her to follow him, he ran forward, sonic screwdriver in hand. “Oi! You up there, you lizard people! Stop right where you are or I’ll deactivate you instantly!” Reacting to his voice, the band up ahead stopped in its tracks and turned around. “That’s right, stop right there. Don’t move a muscle, or you’ll be deactivated for good!”

            Even though the figures were far away, the leader unmistakably smiled. Then, without hesitating, they started walking towards the Doctor. Rebecca ran up to his side, pulling on his sleeve. “Doctor, there’s something important that I need to--“

            “I’m busy right now, Rebecca,” The Doctor said, brushing her off. He then turned his attention back to the figures that were approaching. “I told you, don’t move any closer! No need to pretend; I can deactivate you with the press of a button!”

            The leader hissed with laughter, pausing momentarily in her group’s marching. Unlike the other robots, her scaled face was covered with a ferocious looking mask. In fact, all of the lizard people were wearing the same mask, making it very hard to tell the difference between them. The only way that the leader looked any different was the way she walked. By the very it she held herself it was obvious that she was in charge. “Ah, the stupidity of the apes surprises me, even to this day. Do you think that you could deactivate us? Like we’re some sort of robot? Ha!” She snorted. “Like you even have the technology to do that, even if we were androids. Your pathetic species makes me laugh!” The whole band started to chortle with laughter, following their leader’s lead

            “Oh yeah?” The Doctor said, holding out his screwdriver. “Well, you’ll find I’m full of surprises.” And with that he pressed the button and the sonic screwdriver started to buzz, just as before.

            For a moment nothing happened, but he had gotten used to that from the other transformations. But as a few more moments passed and nothing happening, he tried using it again. Again, nothing happened. He tried every setting that could possibly work, some of those that couldn’t work, and even hit the metallic body more than a few times, yet nothing happened. All the while, the homo-reptilian’s laughter grew louder and louder.

            “But… but…” The Doctor stuttered, for the first time speechless. He stared at his screwdriver, then at the lizards, then at his screwdriver again.

            “I was trying to tell you,” Rebecca told him, trying desperately to get the ‘I told you so’ tone out her voice. “That they were not robots. They are the real deal; genuine, bona fide homo-reptilians.”

            He shook his head, laughing at himself for making a stupid mistake for the second time in one day. But Rebecca couldn’t save him this time. “Oh. That makes sense. Can’t deactivate a living being, can you?” He strained to keep his voice light, yet it was utterly impossible.

            “Are you quite done?” A raspy voice said with a more than a little impatience. Both of them turned around to face the leader. “Now, although I would love to take your pathetic life right now, duty must come first. Last time I checked, you apes were too primitive to have sonic devices yet. So, I have to ask; how did you get it?” She motioned to the screwdriver in his hand.

            “Oh, this thing?” He asked, lifting the screwdriver. “Well, I would love to tell you, but I’m afraid that it’s a bit of a secret. Of course, I might be willing to speak with your leader….”

            It took a few seconds for the female to answer, more than enough time to make the Doctor know that she was lying. “What are you talking about? I’m the leader of my tribe.”

            “No, you’re not,” The Doctor said. “I’ve been to your city before and had a nice chat with your leader. Eldane, I think his name was. A very nice fellow, you should listen to him more often.” He then paused and caught his mistake. “I wasn’t supposed to say that, was I?”

            Shock quickly spread about the little group as they looked at one another. “How could you have met Eldane? No ape has ever been to our city before; it’s utterly impossible.” The leader finally said, regaining her composure a little bit.

            “Well, I have!” The Doctor said cheerfully. “Who knows, you may have slept through it.” He then winked at the Silurans, as if they were sharing a private joke. Even though each and every one of the homo-reptilians knew what he was talking about, Rebecca hadn’t a clue.

            “We’ll have to bring you to Eldane to make sure,” The leader growled, clearly uncomfortable with bringing an outsider to their secret hideaway. “You’ll have to give us all of your weapons, and there will be no primitive trickery from you, understood.”

            “I don’t have any weapons,” He replied. “I’m the Doctor, by the way. I don’t carry weapons.”

            “Oh, really?” The leader held out her hand. “And your sonic device doesn’t count as a weapon?”

            “No, it doesn’t,” The Doctor replied. “And I think I’ll be keeping it, if you don’t mind. I don’t know what you’re going to do with it.”

            “Give it up, ‘Doctor’, or,” The leader said, grabbing Rebecca roughly by the arm. “Or the female gets it.” Rebecca fought back as best as she could, trying to fight the homo reptilia’s grip. These actions were rewarded by the leader’s claws digging in her skin. A sharp cry of pain escaped her lips against her will.

            The Doctor looked sadly at Rebecca for a moment, then handed the sonic screwdriver to the leader. “I’ll go with you, but let her go. She has absolutely no idea what’s going on.”

            “The female may not know what’s going on, but I think I’ll bring her anyways,” The leader replied, not letting go of Rebecca. “She’ll be what we call ‘insurance’.” The leader then barked a few orders to the surrounding Silurans and two of them grabbed the Doctor by the arms roughly, making sure that he would trying anything. The leader let go of Rebecca only to have another one of the homo reptilia take her place, also grabbing her arm tightly.

            “If either of you try anything, I promise you will have the most painful death possible, starting with the death of your mate,” The leader promised them.

            “No, no, we’re not--” Rebecca began.

            “Definitely, we’re definitely not--” The Doctor continued.

            “Together, not at all--“

            “Nor will we ever be--“

            “Like that, not in my lifetime.”

            “Or mine!” The Doctor added, effectively ending all debate.

            “If you think I care about the feelings of you apes, then you are sorely mistaken,” The leader said after they were done. “All that I care about is if you try anything stupid. Because if you do, the other dies. Understood?” Both Rebecca and the Doctor nodded. “Good.” She turned to the rest of her crew. “Forward, march!”

            With that, the whole band started marching in unison, heading towards the outskirts of the city. “Rebecca,” The Doctor said, trying his best to face his companion. “I’m really sorry about getting into this mess, especially with you here. I must be losing my touch, falling for something as stupid as a perception filter and now this.”

            “Well you should be sorry,” Rebecca said, gritting her teeth. “You did mention danger earlier, but I didn’t think that it would be quite like this.”

            The Doctor managed a smile, but the emotion didn’t stretch farther. In his eyes reflected an emotion that Rebecca knew she only scratched the surface of. “Trust me, this is nothing compared to some of the stuff I’ve seen.”

            Neither of them said anything else, content to leave each other with their own thoughts. Rebecca couldn’t tell what the Doctor was thinking; his thoughts were shielded from her, as they always were. Oddly enough, she herself was thinking of her Dad. The one day that she decides to leave him, something actually happens. Her mouth twitched a bit into what was supposed to be a smile at the irony. She hoped that he was okay, untouched by the lizard people. Even though she was probably in a worse situation, she knew that at least she had the Doctor. It bugged her a little bit that the Doctor being there comforted her a little bit; she was still trying to stay mad at him.

            It was a good fifteen minutes of continuous marching then they arrived at a little field, totally abandoned of everything except pink and purple flowers. It seemed like an odd place to but a secret layer, but Rebecca remembered that their entire civilization was underground. For all they knew there could be a huge city right under their feet. The group headed for a patch of strange looking dirt and stopped. Suddenly, a few of the lizards stepped into it and they sunk suddenly into the ground, as if it ate them. “Doctor?” Rebecca whispered, suddenly terrified. “Doctor, what is that?”

            “Don’t worry,” He whispered back, sounding calm. “It’s just how they get to and from their home. They live underground, many miles under the crust. That’s how they get there.” Rebecca had known that their base was underground, but for some reason that hadn’t registered. Childhood nightmares of suffocating, dirt filling her lungs and preventing her from taking any breaths, came back to her in an instant.

            The Doctor could tell that there was something wrong with her, but he didn’t have any time for further encouragement, for the leader of the group said “In you go, apes. Be the first primitive species allowed in our great city. Step in.” The homo-reptilians that were holding their arms suddenly pushed them forward, and they almost landed in the pit.. “Come on, we haven’t go all day!” The leader snarled, getting impatient.

            What the leader didn’t notice, or didn’t care to notice, was that Rebecca was shaking uncontrollably. Rebecca couldn’t make her legs do as she commanded, even though she desperately wanted to do as the leader told them. Just as she about to run away from the homo-reptilians, the pit, and the Doctor and take her chances, a strong hand gripped hers. Tears in her eyes, she looked up to find the Doctor smiling at her. “You’ll be fine, Rebecca” He said  softly, comfortingly. “I’ll be right here the whole time.”

            Rebecca hesitated for moment before nodded. “Th-thanks, Doctor.”

            “We’ll go on three, okay?” The Doctor asked, his eyes searching hers. Although she was far from being ready, she nodded her head again. Then she wiped the tears in her eyes and held her head high.

            “One,” Rebecca said, her voice shaking.

            “Two,” The Doctor said behind her, his strong voice helping calm Rebecca down.”

            “Three!” Rebecca exclaimed with as little hesitation as she could bear.

            “Geronimo!”

            With that they, still holding hands, stepped into the dark sand and Rebecca felt herself sinking.

Author's Note

I am on a roll, aren't I? Third chapter in a day. Anyways, what do you think? I don't have any questions, other than an over-all "What do you think?".

Reviews

[compositionc]

THAT WAS FUNNY AND AMAZING
AND OMG
GERONIMOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[~goh~]

BEST. CHAPTER. YET.
Tat is what I think.
*clicks next chapter button*

[obvious pseudonym]

OMG that was awesome. Um curious too see why they're are robot homo reptila now. Why did u want all those quotes?

[DontBlink158]

I loved it!! it was great!! I loved how you added the childhood fear, it the kinda thing ive been waiting for to see what your doctor would do. I loved it, i thought it was funny that they called them mates and their reactions. Cant wait to read more!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[halflives]

Oh. my. god.
BESTCHAPTERYET.
I absolutely SPAZZED when they called Rebecca the Doc's mate. :D YOU SHOULD TOTALLY MAKE THEM FALL FOR ONE ANOTHER~
ICAN'TWAITTOSEEWHATHAPPENSNEXT.